"Avoid an overnight stay- night wards badly run"

I keep being referred to the LB as I have health insurance and pervasive joint problems and the GPs always seem to recommend the best surgeons who work there. There are 2 main issues: 1.

Admin / secretarial staff are not trained to coordinate treatment plans resulting in repeated problems with joined up treatment between the various departments, and 2.

There seems to be skeleton staff on the wards at night and a complete absence of oversight and management of post operative care during overnight stays.

I have had repeated problems with the secretarial staff including: turning up for 2 appointments wrongly booked when the surgeon was not in the hospital; difficulty in getting hold of secretaries who don't answer the phones and provide no out of office cover; failure to book physio sessions at the right time and In one case this was not done within 7 days of my frozen shoulder operation which meant it had to be done again. No apologies are ever offered for these mistakes. The only area of efficiency is invoicing which is always done with alacrity! At the moment, I am trying to book an MRI scan and am no nearer to getting an appointment than I was 2 days ago.

On the overnight stays, on one occasion I was not given pain relief post operatively for 5 hours. There was a lot of noise and mucking around going on outside at the nursing station and the main culprit was a doctor who was gossiping loudly and never shut up making it impossible to rest. Complaints to nursing staff seemed to make matters worse. There was no management staff on the night ward. Patient buzzers were going off ten to the dozen and clearly they were not being responded to. Resentful, lazy nurses made a mockery of the signs in the room urging patients to request assistance to get out of bed to use the bathroom.

By contrast, the day wards were properly run and the staff were very professional and kind. This hospital is skimping on night ward staff and seems to put profit before patients.

A written complaint resulted in a denial of the failure to give post op pain relief as the nurses records stated otherwise! A bunch of flowers was stated to be on its way from the hospital - 18 months later I am still waiting!

In summary, unfortunately, all of the best surgeons in the South East seem to based at this terrible hospital. If you have to go there , be prepared for administrative chaos. Avoid an overnight stay at all costs.